Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/02/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Marty, I was just surprised at the results - it was not posted to persuade any of you to buy a Nikon V1! (-: I think Myanmar is well worth a visit. Later this year, perhaps. Cheers Jayanand On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 12:40 PM, Marty Deveney <benedenia at gmail.com> wrote: > On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 5:22 PM, Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu> > wrote: > > Thanks for the link, Jayanand. Interesting. Although I must confess I > take some issue with his statement that "since the country is going to > change in the coming years, visit now". I don't see how a change for the > better would make the country less deserving of a visit. Unless he means > that a change from the current dictatorship to democracy will be a change > for the worse? > > I've been to Myanmar. The loss of cultural identities (I use the > plural because there are hundreds of identifiably separate ethnic > groups in the country) in Myanmar has already started with increased > external influence. It will be accelerated greatly by further opening > up. Irrespective of the motives or causes behind it, the more closed > a country is the less they are open to cultural homogenisation. > Myanmar is an amazing place, and even if the west doesn't like its > current politics/government, that the country has retained the > authenticity of their cultures is something to admire in my opinion. > Bhutan has also done it, although in a way that most outsiders find > more acceptable, although they have their problems too. This all > might be driven, however, by a personal moral difficulty that I have, > having been born in and continuing to live in, and benefit from, a > country founded on the principle of terra nullius and claimed by > ongoing genocide, that I feel morally compromised by judging how any > other country is run, irrespective of whether it is a way I agree with > or not. I prefer to try to help to fix things here before I judge how > others act and work. These are questions that rarely arise in > socio-political debates, and are even more rarely addressed. > > The photos are nice, but they could have been taken with any camera, > and won't make me run to buy a V1. > > Marty > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >